The Departure – More Interesting Digging :: By Ron Ferguson
There are two parts in this posting. PART 1 develops the meaning of the word DEPARTURE in 2 Thessalonians 2:3, and PART 2 gives very interesting background in the whole matter.
PART 1 – GATHERING THE INFORMATION ON DEPARTURE
After a recent post of mine on RaptureReady called “Context! – Rapture; Birth Pangs; Great Tribulation,” a loyal reader of RR wrote to me with a question. This is part of what he wrote:
In your article from RR, Context! – Rapture; Birth Pangs; Great Tribulation, you quote Kenneth S. Wuest on the Greek word “apostasia.” Question: Does he consider that word the same as Strong’s G0646? Reason I’m asking is because his description of it doesn’t concur with Strong’s. Also, his description is totally different from A.T. Robertson’s.
I have appreciated that mail sent to me so very much, as it sent me into research that has been a real blessing for me. I want to share these findings with you because there were some things I discovered for the first time. We never fully exhaust a subject; we merely augment our knowledge. From here on is my reply to this person who wrote to me:
You ask a very valid question with good comments. Thank you for that. What your question does is focus on the meaning of “apostasia.” For that word, Strong’s gives “Defection, apostasy, revolt. Feminine of the same as apostasion; defection from truth.” (Strong’s 646).
This is one of these words that has legitimate meanings that can be different. There are several Bible versions that translate this word in the 2 Thessalonians 2 verse as “rebellion,” most as “apostasy,” and none that I can see of current translations that use “departure.” BUT every one of those other translations does mean departure, as does the word apostasia.
**Rebellion is departure from rule and order.
**Apostasy is departure from truth, a falling away in belief.
Most Bible versions and writers prefer to translate the word as apostasy or a falling away from the truth. That is not wrong to do, but it is not the correct translation IN CONTEXT. Context is so important.
2 Thessalonians 2:3 “Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, UNLESS the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction.” (English Standard Version).
The context is that the Day of the LORD will not come UNLESS… That day is the Day of the LORD, that great judgmental time on Earth of the wrath of God so frequently spoken of in the Old Testament. It is a cataclysmic time of great intensity outlined by almost every Old Testament prophetic writer.
That day cannot come UNLESS this certain “apostasy” (apostasia) comes first. It cannot possibly mean a falling away from the faith, as that happened so terribly for centuries after Constantine, and under the Roman Catholic Church. We live now in the days of Laodicea where there is a rapid falling away of so many biblical doctrines, but it is not what Paul refers to.
This event “apostasia” refers to is going to be something very powerful. Kenneth Wuest was an eminent Greek scholar, and James Strong was a prominent theologian, both very gifted men. James Strong was a Methodist, and Methodism is not generally accepting of the Rapture, but that is neither here nor there. He was very accurate in his Concordance.
When one approaches the 2 Thessalonians 2:3 verse, the way you think of “aspostasia” will be influenced by how you think of the Day of the Lord! Those with a Pre-Tribulation understanding will see this apostasia as leading to the Rapture; and those dismissive of the Rapture will be inclined just to believe in some falling away related to either church faith and belief, or a falling away with political connotations. They would be the ones who attach no special translation to the word “apostasia” except “APOSTASY.”
The word does mean “DEPARTURE,” and a person’s position is either a departure from Christian faith OR a departure from the world, which is what the Rapture really is. The Church is relocated!
Kenneth Wuest gave the references I used in that article posted on Rapture Ready recently for the word to mean departure from one place to another. Remember, there are about 15 of those in the New Testament even though the variants of “apostasia” may not look the same. This is the way language is. As Wuest said, that is a location placement, and in the Rapture, it is from Earth to Heaven.
You say what Wuest says does not concur with Strong’s. Actually, it does. The word “departure” was not used by Strong as one of his meanings, preferring “rebellion” as the main word, but departure is leaving, and most say it is leaving the faith or rebelling against it, but it also means leaving your location, as Wuest points out.
There was no greater rebellion against faith than the centuries of the Middle Ages for many, many centuries leading up to the Reformation, seen in the absolute evil in the Roman Catholic Church of that time. Church History can confirm all that.
LET’S LOOK AT THE RESTRAINER
The other verse that is sometimes bypassed, and which must run in conjunction with this one, is 2 Thessalonians 2:6 – “And you know what currently restrains him, so that he will be revealed in his time.” From the two verses before verse 6, we know that the one being restrained is the Antichrist called the Man of Lawlessness. The restraint holds back his appearance (revealing) to the world.
So then, what is holding back this Man of Sin from being revealed? Firstly, we must look at HIS REVEALING, which is the white horse – Revelation 6:1-2 “I saw when the Lamb broke one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying as with a voice of thunder, ‘Come.’ And I looked, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering, and to conquer.”
That is going to be the start of the Tribulation, so what is preventing the Tribulation from happening, say, for example, right now?
Well, what prevents it is this APOSTASIA. That must be a very extraordinarily powerful thing/event to be holding back the full onslaught of satanic and demonic wickedness in the world. We know that the Holy Spirit is the Restrainer, for NOTHING ELSE can hold back the whole of Satan’s wickedness pouring forth. It is not the Church; not Christians, but the Holy Spirit. The Church just cannot possibly do it.
In the Greek of 2 Thessalonians 2:3, in these English words, “UNLESS the apostasia comes first,’’ there is a definite and strong emphasis on the word “THE” where the definite article is used, not the indefinite “a” or “an.” It means THE departure (THE apostasia), referring to some very special event that the Thessalonian Christians knew about from Paul’s previous teaching.
Where is the Holy Spirit right now? Well, He indwells the children of God, the Bride, the Church, the Body of Christ, on this earth. Note these verses – 2 Thessalonians 2:6 “You know WHAT RESTRAINS HIM NOW, so that IN HIS TIME he may be REVEALED.” [That is, restrains the Antichrist] – what it is that restrains the Antichrist.
2 Thessalonians 2:7 “for the mystery of lawlessness is ALREADY AT WORK. Only he who now restrains will do so UNTIL HE IS TAKEN OUT OF THE WAY.” [the Restrainer is the Holy Spirit.]
From those verses –
[1.] We know what restrains the Antichrist. It is the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is in the true Church on Earth.
[2.] At the “correct time,” the Man of Lawlessness will be revealed. “In his time” is what happens in Revelation 6:1 (with an explanatory description in Revelation 13:1-10).
[3.] We are seeing lawlessness at work already in the world. Have you happened to notice what is occurring in Britain, Spain, France, Belgium, and Portugal? There are open riots, and we are going to see more of this in the United States and Australia and other nations, but not China, for they would be shot dead. It is out of control in France – lawlessness!
[4.] The Restrainer will continue to do His work UNTIL… He is taken out of the way (means “removed”). And what will remove the Holy Spirit (who is God, remember)? Well, the DEPARTURE of the Church does it, for He goes with the Church. Can you imagine what this earth will be like with no salt of the Christians (Mathew 5:13), and no restraining from the Holy Spirit? It will be a full flood of wickedness, and that will lead to the second seal, the red horse – wars all over the earth when peace is taken from the earth.
IT IS NOT A FALLING AWAY IN THE CHURCHES THAT HOLDS BACK ANTICHRIST. This apostasia cannot possibly be – in any stretch of the imagination – a falling away in faith and teaching in the churches. It is something very powerful and of huge import. An apostasy in churches has no import whatever on the great onslaught of wickedness baying at the door wanting to be released into the world. It will be the removal of the Church (and the Holy Spirit) that will bring that about.
This is why context is so important. 2 Thessalonians 2:2-10 must be taken in context.
Something I pointed out in another post was that writers, commentators, and pastors just repeat what they read or have heard. Well, there are times when that is not good enough. The matter needs to be examined thoroughly, comparing scripture with scripture.
Getting back …
PART 2 – BACKGROUND AND DEVELOPMENT FOR THE CORRECT WORD = DEPARTURE
The following is from “spirit and truth.org” and is documented, but I have not cited the references à [[ The Greek word apostasia in 2 Thessalonians 2:3 is translated as “departure” in several early English Bibles, leading some interpreters to argue it means a physical departure or the Rapture of the church.
EARLY TRANSLATIONS USING “DEPARTURE”
The first several English translations rendered apostasia as “departure” or “departing”:
- Wycliffe Bible (1384)
- Tyndale Bible (1526)
- Coverdale Bible (1535)
- Cranmer Bible (1539)
- Breeches Bible (1576)
- Beza Bible (1583)
- Geneva Bible (1608/1599)
THE TWO MAIN VIEWPOINTS
The first one comes from THE CHAFER ORGANISATION: (Lewis Sperry Chafer (1871 – 1952) was an American theologian. He co-founded Dallas Theological Seminary with his older brother, Rollin Thomas Chafer.)
The Physical Departure (Rapture) View:
Root meaning: Apostasia is built from apo (“away from”) and histemi (“to stand”), literally meaning “to stand away from” or depart (go away).
Proponents argue it refers to believers being physically removed or caught up (the Rapture) before the Day of the Lord and the Antichrist appear.
The second one comes from “Got Questions”. Here is the second one:
The Spiritual Apostasy / Rebellion View:
Standard meaning: Most modern translations (like the ESV, NIV, NASB, and KJV) render it as “falling away,” “rebellion,” or “apostasy.”
Proponents argue that the word denotes a religious or doctrinal defection – forsaking the faith or truth – rather than a physical lifting away of people
** ** JUST HOW DID THE CHANGE FROM DEPARTURE TO APOSTASY HAPPEN? ** **
In fact, Jerome’s Latin translation, known as the Vulgate from around the time of A.D. 400, renders “apostasia” with the word “discessia,” meaning “departure.”
WHY WAS THE KING JAMES VERSION THE FIRST to depart from the established translation of “departure”? Theodore Beza, the Swiss/French REFORMER, was the first to translate “apostasia” and create a new word rather than translate it as others had done. The translators of the King James Version were the first to introduce the new rendering of apostasia as “falling away.” Most English translators have followed the KJV and Beza in departing from translating apostasia as “departure.”
[[ NOTE – In the early English Bibles mentioned above, the Beza Bible is said to use “departure.” I eventually tracked all this down in Beza’s translation, which was originally in Greek and Latin. This is Beza’s translation of 2 Thessalonians 2:3 – “Let no man deceive you by any meanes: for that day shall not come, except there come a departing first, and that that man of sinne be disclosed, even the sonne of perdition.” I think in the final analysis, Beza went with the majority opinion.
https://wdc.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/spc/id/4281
THE REASON FOR THE CHANGE à This would be in accordance with the doctrinal position of Reformation theology that dismisses most of eschatology, and Reformation theology would not agree with a pre-tribulation view at all. This would be the reason why “departure” was discontinued! It is nothing more than manipulation from vested interests and the advancement of Covenant Theology. Also, King James 1st had his own interference in the translation.
Kenneth Wuest, a Greek scholar from Moody Bible Institute, has examined the contextual support to show apostasia as a physical departure, but I won’t post that now. You can follow that up.
It seems to me that the opposition that comes against the word “departure” in favor of “apostasy” comes from the whole camp that rejects the pre-tribulation position of prophecy. In other words, from those who hold to Reformation and Covenant Theology. It is simply a continuation of the Roman Catholic position on eschatology (Nicene/Apostles Creed)
Andrew Woods of Sugar Land Bible Church at Chafer Theological Seminary writes:
Paul states, “… that Day will not come unless the falling away comes FIRST” (2 Thessalonians 2:3a). The word translated “first” is the Greek adjective prōton (πρῶτον), which means “FIRST OF ALL” AS IN A SEQUENCE. If a physical departure must first transpire before the Day of the Lord can even begin, then it becomes a decisive victory for pre-tribulationalism. In this way, how one interprets 2 Thessalonians 2:3a is of grave consequence to the longstanding debate concerning the timing of the rapture.”
One of the great names in Pre-Tribulation Rapture is Thomas Ice. The following passages are from Thomas Ice’s “Pre-Trib Research Center.”
THE “DEPARTURE” IN 2 THESSALONIANS 2:3 – FROM THOMAS ICE
(These quotes from Thomas Ice go for about 7 paragraphs)
[[[ “Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy [departure] comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction” (2 Thessalonians 2:3).
In March 2004, I wrote a Pre-Trib Perspectives about why I believe the Greek word apostasia was mistranslated in the King James Version as “a falling away,” and the New American Standard Bible as “the apostasy.” Instead, the most accurate and therefore the best translation should be “the departure.”
Greek scholar and theologian H. Wayne House says, “I have sought to demonstrate that the departure of the church may be the proper understanding found in the Greek word apostasia in 2 Thessalonians 2:3.” My colleague at the Pre-Trib Research Center, Tim LaHaye, says, “I have come to the conclusion that the weight of evidence favors “departing” as the proper translation of apostasia in the original text, not “apostasy” or “falling away” or “rebellion.” I will be revisiting this issue in this article. I now want to revisit this matter and provide further information that has strengthened my belief that this passage is teaching a pre-trib rapture.
Review
It was noted in my previous article that the best translation for the Greek word apostasia is “depart” or “departure.” Gordon Lewis summarizes the usage as follows:
The verb is used fifteen times in the New Testament. Of these fifteen, only three have anything to do with a departure from the faith (Luke 8:13; 1 Timothy 4:1; Hebrews 3:12). The word is used for departing from iniquity (2 Timothy 2:19), from ungodly men (1 Timothy 6:5), from the temple (Luke 2:27), from the body (2 Corinthians 12:8), and from persons (Acts 12:10; Luke 4:13).
Critics of pre-tribulationism contend that if the rapture before the tribulation is taught in the New Testament, then where is it clearly taught? I believe that other passages teach it as well; however, 2 Thessalonians 2 teaches that the rapture must occur before the day of the Lord (i.e., the Tribulation). The purpose of Paul’s writing to the Thessalonian believers in his second epistle was to comfort them in light of a false teaching that they were [actually] in the tribulation (2 Thessalonians 2:2).
If apostasia refers to a departure from the faith before the tribulation, then how is that a comfort? However, if the departure is the rapture, then there is a comfort since they will be rescued and taken to heaven to be with the Lord before the coming wrath of the tribulation. Also, if this passage does not refer apostasia to the rapture, then imminence is lost because they would be looking for a great apostasy rather than Christ. Maranatha! ]]]
[the end of the quotes]
MY CONCLUSION
There is so much more that can be written on this truth, and very capable people have done it. For those of you who have the blessed hope of the Rapture, you can explore the topic yourself. I have tried to provide the information without plunging too deeply in argumentation and the Greek constructions.
May the Lord bless all His, and for you who look forward to the Rapture, God gives you a promise, just for you. Here it is, and I conclude with this:
2 Timothy 4:8 “In the future there is laid up for me THE CROWN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me, but also TO ALL WHO HAVE LOVED HIS APPEARING.”